UCSF Fentanyl Test Strip Study – Summary
By Dr. Kara Lynch
Professor of Laboratory Medicine, UCSF
Co-Director of the Core Laboratory at Zuckerberg General Hospital
UCSF Study Summary
We sought to investigate the sensitivity, specificity and lot-to-lot reproducibility of the WHPM Fen10 strips in comparison to the BTNX strips. The results are pending publication. In summary, testing the WHPM Fen10 strips with analytical grade drug standards in a chemistry lab setting did not produce false positives for methamphetamine and MDMA at 10 mg/mL. Cross-reactivity was observed for these 2 compounds at 25 mg/ml. The WHPM Fen10 strips were able to accurately detect fentanyl down to concentrations of 20-50 ng/mL across 3 lots, demonstrating an excellent limit of detection for fentanyl. The WHPM Fen10 strips match the reported limit of detection of similar strips for fentanyl detection, without the issue of interference with methamphetamine or MDMA at relevant concentrations, making them an excellent additional harm reduction tool for people who use drugs. A link to the full study results will be posted here as soon as it is published in a peer-reviewed journal.